Outside of the final score, Ace Alston enjoyed his return to South Bend for Saturday night’s game between Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
“It went great,” the top 2027 Ohio cornerback told Irish Sports Daily. “It was a great atmosphere. I got to talk to the coaches a lot and just see all the fans in the stands in a great game. The overall experience was 100 percent great.”
The Anderson High School standout had the chance to speak with Irish secondary coach Mike Mickens before the game.
“We had a great conversation,” Alston said. “We were just talking about my games and my upcoming games and stuff like that, and what their gameplan was.”
Alston also had the opportunity to talk with head coach Marcus Freeman prior to kickoff.
“He gave me a warm welcome since he went to school in Ohio too,” said Alston. “He gave me a warm welcome. He was like, 'My Ohio boy!'
“We got to chat it up for a little bit. We took pictures and he was just checking up on the fam and saying he really wanted to get me down multiple times. I just appreciated that coming from the head coach.”
The 5-foot-11, 165-pounder has more than 40 offers from schools like Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Auburn, Duke, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, UCLA and Oregon among several others.
He was impressed with the atmosphere inside Notre Dame Stadium.
“It was a whole different level,” he said. “It was crazy to just see it in person. I paid attention to every detail. After every touchdown, they do the push-ups and things like that in the stands. It is just electric. It was a great atmosphere. Everybody's loud getting hyped and it was just a great game to see.”
The Irish’s 41-40 loss to the Aggies doesn’t change the way Alston views Notre Dame.
“It doesn't do anything to the way I look at them,” he said. “It was a tough game. I feel like everybody played their best, played the hardest and they just came out with an L. I feel like they're going to learn from this and bounce back, but no, it doesn't do anything with me and the school.”
He’ll be at USC next weekend and then Penn State the weekend after that. He could return to South Bend in the future.
“I'm still checking the schedule and things like that, but I've got to see what the schedule's looking like with my parents,” he said.
Either way, he remains high on Notre Dame.
“It’s a great program, not only in football and in education too. The way that Coach Freeman talks about life after football and after football is done, that really means a lot to me. Notre Dame is definitely a school I can see myself at, I can visualize myself playing at.”
Want the latest scoop on the Fighting Irish? Sign up for our newsletter and become an ISD Premium Subscriber: Sign Up for ISD
Under Armour Navy Notre Dame Fighting Irish Gameday Armourfuse Half-Zip Top
